The Slave Route, UNESCO -Division of Intercultural Projects, 1, rue Miollis - 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France
At the proposal of Haiti and someAfrican countries, the General Conference of UNESCO approved at its 27thSession in 1993 the implementation of the "The Slave Route" Project(Resolution 27 C/3.13). The project was officially launched during the FirstSession of the International Scientific Committee of the Slave Route inSeptember 1994 in Ouidah (Benin), one of the former pivots of the Slave trade inthe Gulf of Guinea. The official documents of Ouidah were brought out in bookform by UNESCO Publishing in 1998 under the title "From Chains to Bonds:the Slave Trade Revisited".
The idea of a "Route"expresses the dynamics of the movement of peoples, civilizations and cultures,while that of "slave" addresses not only the universal phenomenon ofslavery, but also in a more precise and explicit way the transatlantic slavetrade in the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
The Slave Route Project has a double objective: on the one hand it aims to break a silence and makeuniversally known the subject of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery inthe Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, with its causes and modalities, by means ofscientific work. On the other hand, it aims to emphasize, in an objective wayits consequences, especially the interactions between the peoples concerned inEurope, Africa and the Caribbean.
Foreword
Federico Mayor
Introduction
Doudou Diene
Who was responsible?
Elikia M'Bokolo
Slave Route archives
Howard Dodson
Latin America and the Caribbean
Luz-Maria Martinez-Montiel
Slave trade and identity
Hugo Tolentino Dipp
Slave trade and development
Claude Meillassoux
Ideology, philosophy, thought
Louis Molins
Most important issues of today's world - such as development, human rights, and cultural pluralism - bear the unmistakable stamp of the transatlantic slave trade. In particular Africa's state of development can only be properly understood in the light of the widespread dismantling of African societies and the methodical and lasting human bloodletting to which the continent was subjected by way of the trans-Saharan and transatlantic slave trade over the centuries. But this greatest displacement of population in history also transformed the vast geo-cultural area of the Americas and the Caribbean.
In this volume, one result of UNESCO's project Memory of Peoples: The Slave Route, scholars and thinkers from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean have come together to raise some crucial questions and offer new perspectives on debates that have lost none of their urgency.
Abstract: Lovejoy argues that sufficient information exists about
individuals taken as captives in the slave trade to allow historians to
dispense with a generalized notion of a "traditional" African background
for New World blacks and, accordingly, to articulate the African-ness of
the black diaspora with ethnic and historical specificity. Lovejoy
concedes there are difficulties involved with absorbing the "extensive
documentation on the African-ness of the slave communities of the
diaspora," but he lays out a program for future diasporic studies.
Prominent in this program are the compilation of biographical data on
captives and slaves (including oral source material), the analysis of the
sites of the slave trade and movements of Africa-derived peoples, the
analysis of cultural activities, and an unprecedented form of
international, inter institutional cooperation, most notably among
African, American, and European institutions which promote education and
research.
The UNESCO Slave Route Project
"Il ne servirait a rien non plus de dissimuler nos propres résponsabilités
dans les désastres qui se sont abattus ou continuent de s'abattre sur
nous. Nos complicités dans la traite [en esclaves] sont bien établies, nos
divisions absurdes, nos errements collectifs, l'esclavage comme
institution endogene...."
Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo
With these words, the Président de la République du Bénin launched the
UNESCO "Slave Route" Project on 1 September 1994 at the old slaving port
of Ouidah. To achieve world peace, Soglo continued, it is necessary to
come to terms with the legacy of slavery, not only the brutalities of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery in the Americas but also
the legacy of the blood-soaked ritual houses in the royal palaces at
Abomey, the capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The "Slave Route" began
within Africa, and its impact was often severe for both deported Africans
and those who remained as slaves in West Africa as well.
The pursuit of the "Slave Route" represents a departure in the study of
the history of Africa and the African diaspora. Hitherto, Africa and the
diaspora have generally been discrete subjects of enquiry. Despite the
work of Pierre Verger, Roger Bastide, Melville Herskovits and others,
scholars have rarely pursued common links between Africa and the
Americas. To address this disjuncture in scholarship is the target of the
UNESCO Project, which aims to trace the slave trade from the original
points of enslavement in the African interior, through the coastal (and
Saharan) entrepots by which slaves were exported from the region, to the
societies in the Americas and the Islamic world into which they were
imported.
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999
From: Paul Lovejoy
The discussion of fugitive slaves, marronage, the Underground RR, and
resistance more generally has prompted me to submit the following:
The Nigerian Hinterland Project, centered at York University, affiliated
with the UNESCO Slave Route Project and supported by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is interested in the creation of
a database on fugitive slaves, as part of a larger interest in creating a
biographical database of enslaved Africans. Clearly fugitive ads are a
major source of information on individuals, which can be used as a starting
point in tracking down information of biographical interest.
Subscribers might wish to know that the Nigerian Hinterland Project, in
collaboration with the Schomburg Center, is supporting an initiative
undertaken by the University of the West Indies (Mona) to recover all
extant issues of Caribbean newspapers, beginning with Jamaican newspapers,
and then expanding to include the rest of the Caribbean. An inventory of
Jamaican newspapers will be finished soon. Obviously, this is a necessary,
first step before compiling a full listing of fugitive advertisements,
slave sales and other informaton that can be useful in creating a
biographical database.
Our longer-range intention is to focus on enslaved Africans who can be
traced to the Nigerian hinterland, that is the first-generation of
"slaves". Our approach is directed outward from Africa, and specifically
the Nigerian hinterland, and hence northward, eastward and westward as well
as southward to the coast and across the Atlantic. In this sense, our
theoretical paradigm is Afro-centric. Biography, and hence any materials
that might yield biographical information, is central to this approach.
For these reasons, the Virginia project is very interesting. From the
information provided, however, it is not clear if the theoretical
perspective has taken account of recent trends in "Afro-centrism". It is
hoped that the African origins of slaves, and an attempt to identify any
information that might provide clues to those origins, is central to the
project. Otherwise, we won't know who we are talking about. We want to
know what families people came from, not just country, ethnicity and
birthplace.
If it is possible, it might be useful to discuss the ways and means by
which those developing similar kinds of projects that are attempting to
uncover the African past and how that changed in the Americas might be able
to share information/software/expertise/scepticisms. Our project has been
working with scholars in a great many different countries, and there is
naturally a lot of interest. We would like even more involvement. We
think that there is the possibility of a genealogy of slavery.
Paul Lovejoy FRSC
Distinguished Research Professor of History
York University
Toronto, Canada
APAHS (Association for the Publication of African Historical Sources) is run by a
group of people who share a common interest in publishing edited
transcriptions and translations of African historical texts, usually in
African languages. It's ancestry includes the Fontes Historiae Africanae,
which John Hunwick publicized in the United States, and an NEH grant given to
Michigan State, David Robinson and Jay Spaulding in 1987, precisely for the
publication of African Historical Sources. But it has always been a much
wider phenomenon of people engaged in the various insertions on a variety of
projects. It meets at each Annual Meeting of the African Studies
Association in the form of a roundtable, which amounts to a discussion of
what different "members" are doing. Its membership consists of those who
are interested in coming and being on the newsletter mailing list.
October 1999 APAHS Newsletter (extract)
LOVEJOY on the NIGERIAN HINTERLAND PROJECT (
The Nigerian Hinterland Project, which is affiliated with the UNESCO Slave
Route Project and is funded by a five-year grant from the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is involved in a number of
document projects. The Nigerian Hinterland Project is located in the
Department of History, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3, Canada.
Director: Paul E. Lovejoy (plovejoy@yorku.ca);
Associate Director: David Trotman (dtrotman@yorku.ca)
Projects include:
Oral traditions in Hausa, with English summaries - work continues on this
multi-volume project, including transcription and translation of the
following collections: Yusufu Yunusa (1975-76), Ahamdu Maccido (1974-76),
Ibrahim Jumare (1994), Sean Stilwell (1996-98), Paul Lovejoy (various,
1969-76), and Ibrahim Hamza (1995-96). Also see report by Ibrahim Hamza, to
be submitted separately.
Arabic documentation - see reports of Yacine Daddi Addoun, I.U. Musah, but
including materials on bori in North Africa in the early 19th century, and
various collections of documents. Reports to be submitted separately.
W.B. Baikie diary and papers, published and unpublished, on the Niger River
valley, 1850s, including numerous published articles, as well as the
extensive files of unpublished materials and his diary: Materials being
collected by James Bruce Lockhart, James Femi Kolapo and Silke Strickrodt.
Hugh Clapperton, second expedition into the interior of West Africa,
1826-27, being an account of travels through Oyo, Borgu and the Sokoto
Calipahte: unpublished text being transcribed by James Bruce Lockhart, to be
compared with published versions.
Muhammad Gardo Baquaqua biography (1854), being an account of the
enslavement and sale into slavery in Brazil, liberation in New York and
subsequent adventures of an official in the court of the king of Djougou, in
western Borgu, whose mother was from Katsina and whose father was a Muslim
merchant in Djougou; annotated by Robin Law and Paul Lovejoy; additional
research underway.
Biographical database: verbatim texts being entered on the computer for all
biographical materials in CMS microfilmed records for Niger, Yoruba and
Sierra Leone missions; biographical materials in widely scattered sources
being similarly entered on the computer, with intention of designing a
CD-ROM database. Various graduate students have been working on this
project for the past year. Approximately 500 biographical accounts
entered. For a description, see Paul E. Lovejoy, "Biography as Source
Material: Towards a Biographical Archive of Enslaved Africans," in Robin
Law, ed., Source Material for Studying the Slave Trade and the African
Diaspora, Stirling, 1997, 119-40
Biographical records of the anti-slave trade patrols of the British navy:
personal data on approximately 75,000 individuals freed by the British navy,
being analysed and developed into a database by David Eltis, with assistance
from various people, including Ugo Nwokeji.
Letters of the Old Calabar slave trade in the eighteenth century, including
letters by Old Calabar merchants as well as the principal Liverpool and
Bristol merchants who dominated the trade, being collected by Paul Lovejoy
and David Richardson, with assistance from Silke Strickrodt. Fourteen
letters being published in Paul E. Lovejoy and David Richardson, "Letters of
the Old Calabar Slave Trade, 1760-1789," in Vincent Carretta, ed.,
Voices of Slavery (University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming).
Royal Africa Company papers, period after 1699, volume two, being undertaken
by Robin Law - separate report submitted.
Hausa and Kanuri texts collected in North Africa by Rudolph Prietze c. 1900,
which include numerous stories, historical accounts, and other information
that were collected from pilgrims and slaves. Texts are being edited and
translated, to be published with the African Studies Program, University of
Wisconin; work conducted by Gisela Seidensticker and others.
Proyecto Orunmila - 24 volumes of texts on Ocha and Ifa from Regla, Cuba,
with considerable historical information on Yoruba origins and beliefs in
particular. Based on original texts held by various babalayo in and near
Regla. Original documents to be photographed with assistance from the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Texts are available at
cost, varying from $1,400 to $2,500, depending upon purchase of 17 basic
texts or purchase of total collection. Materials are in Spanish, heavily
interspersed with Yoruba. Under the direction of Ernesto Valdez Janet, and
purchased through the Nigerian Hinterland Secretariat; contact Len Wong at
lwong@yorku.ca
An inventory of Jamaican newspapers, from the early 18th century to the
present has been conducted at the University of the West Indies-Mona, with
the support of the Nigerian Hinterland Project, as a pilot project in a full
inventory of all Caribbean and Brazilian newspapers, and the compliation of
the complete set into a database for a variety of uses, including access to
fugitive slave advertisements, slave sales, prices, and other information.
Moreover, it is hoped that several inventories and bibliographies of the
holdings of the Nigerian Hinterland Project will soon be accessible via our
Web site, but we ask for your indulgence. These inventories include:
holdings of Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna, including provincial reports
for Kano, Sokoto, Zaria and Borno Provinces, district assessment reports for
Kano, Sokoto and Zaria emirates, provincial court records for select years,
district notebooks, numerous Arabic and ajami texts, published articles and
papers on Nigeria, the Sahara, West Africa, and the diaspora, oral data
holdings, conference paper holdings, and Tubman Seminar papers. These
inventories will be accessible via our Web site.
Paul E. Lovejoy FRSC
Distinguished Research Professor, York University
Director, UNESCO/SSHRCC Nigerian Hinterland Project, York University
Research Professor, University of Hull
Port-au-Prince (Haiti), 28 August {No. 98-174} - The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition - established by UNESCO’s General Conference at its 29th session to be held each 23 August - was celebrated for the first time this year, with diverse activities organized in Haiti from 14 to 23 August.
Daniel Janicot, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for the Directorate - representing UNESCO’s Director-General at the ceremonies - highlighted the reasons behind the choice of Haiti for the inaugural commemoration: "The Bois-Cayman Insurrection, on the night of the 22nd to 23rd of August 1791, constitutes, through its organization, its military success and its consequences, the major historic event that symbolises the perpetual fight of the slaves. (...) It is also the decisive historic factor at the origin of the process toward the abolition of slavery."
In addition to Haiti’s historic role in the fight against slavery, it was through the initiative of Haiti and African nations that the "Slave Route" project was adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference. This project aims to study the root causes and modalities of the transatlantic slave trade as well as to shed light on the interactions this generated in the Americas and Antilles.
Among the numerous activities held in Haiti were a series of conferences on the theme of the Slave Trade and Slavery in Port-au-Prince, Cayes and Jacmel. An exhibit of historical documents was displayed in Port-au-Prince. A festival of films from Cuba, Guadaloupe, France, Brazil and North America was held throughout the week of celebration. A giant fresco was created at the Museum of Art by two Haitian artists, as well as artists from Cuba and Senegal. The celebration also featured an exhibition juxtaposing the work of artists and authors on the theme of human rights, a concert featuring popular Haitian musicians, a parade from the point of debarkation of the slaves to the Place des Heros featuring giant puppets, and a performance of the show "Chayopye" by the Hervé Denis Company.
Historians, researchers and teachers met in Haiti to explore the launch and implementation of a new pilot project to include and reinforce in school programmes knowledge about the extent of slavery and its impact. An educational and intercultural conceptual framework will be proposed for experimentation in some twenty countries participating in UNESCO’s Associated Schools network.
Next year, commemorations of International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition are planned in numerous countries. A poster for the Day has been printed.
. . . forging new triangular links - educational, cultural and social - between ASPnet schools in Europe, Africa and the Americas/Caribbean . . . an intercultural dialogue between young people though increased awareness of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, its root causes and its legacy. ASPnet links some 5500 schools in 160 countries around the world (1999 figures) in order to carry out pilot projects and experimental activities to promote educating for a culture of peace.
THE ASPNET TST PROJECT
International coordinator: Elizabeth Khawajkie e.khawajkie@unesco.org
Regional coordinator, Americas/Caribbean: Sandra Gift s.gift@unesco.org
Regional Adviser for Culture, Africa: Jean Roger Ahoyo dakar@unesco.org
THE SLAVE ROUTE
Doudou Diene, Director for Intercultural Projects
d.diene@unesco.org